The members of the Red Cross Association, with their friends and helpers, were abroad in large numbers and were selling sealed envelopes, each of which contained a coupon entitling the purchaser to a prize of some sort. The scheme, which appealed to the gambling instinct that appears to be inherent in one form or another in most of the human race, certainly ``caught on'', and many purchasers, after solving the mystery of one envelope, were induced by finding their ``luck was in'', to delve deeper still into the lottery and purchase several more envelopes. All enjoyed themselves immensely, and under the spur and influence of the quid pro quo that the ladies were able to offer the public, for their generosity, business proceeded at a merry pace. By 0.30 p.m. the whole issue of 20,000 coupons had been sold at 1s each, thus assuring the full 1000 that had been aimed at. Miss M. Samson disposed of no fewer than 1200 coupons, and as a result she was presented with a necklace that had been offered to the person who sold the greatest number. Early in the afternoon the ladies visited a number of business premises for the purpose of obtaining a further supply of articles to attach to an extra issue of 1500 coupons, and as soon as these were secured the sale was renewed with the same successful result.
The prizes that were offered to coupon holders were of infinite variety, and it will be sufficient to say that they covered a scope ranging from household goods, jewellery, etc., down to picture theatre tickets and toothbrushes. Of course there were many amusing anomalies, and in one case a member of the wrong sex found himself heir to a ``honeymoon set''. In another instance the manager of a popular amusement house had his interest so sharply stimulated by the fact that a small boy standing beside him drew two tons tons of coal that he went in for the purchase of envelopes on a wholesale scale - only to find that he had become the purchaser of an inordinate number of clothes-lines, several money-boxes, a picture hat, etc. The only consoling feature of the incident was that his multifarious purchases included a packet of tobacco.
Pukerangi scheelite
Since the Pukerangi mine was taken over some six months ago from Mr A. Ewart, a considerable amount of development work has been carried on in opening up the reef. On the surface the lode has been opened up in various places for a distance of over 1000 feet, and in every instance good scheelite ore has been exposed - in many places rich enough for hand picking. In order to prove the existence of the lode at depth an adit has been driven to intersect the reef. This adit is in about 76 feet, and the lode has now been struck, giving about 100 feet of backs. In his report last week, the mine manager states : ``We have now reached both hanging wall and foot wall, giving a total width of ore formation of 20ft 3in. Scheelite is intermixed through a width of 7ft on the footwall side. On the hanging wall side there is a 6ft body of solid quartz carrying scheelite right through. About 3ft of this portion is carrying very good scheelite, out of which a fair amount of free scheelite can be got, suitable for pigging. Mr L. O. Beal has the matter of erecting the plant well in hand, and it is estimated that by the end of June the mine should be producing scheelite.'' - ODT, 30.5.1917
